


The only way to celebrate Valentine’s Day

by FandomShipperAway



Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Anxiety, Author Is Sleep Deprived, Cliche, Comfort, Crying, Cuddling & Snuggling, Dessert & Sweets, Dinner, Established Relationship, Fluff and Humor, Gay James Madison, Gay Thomas Jefferson, Happy Ending, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Ice Cream, Kinda makes no sense, Light Angst, M/M, Miscommunication, Not Beta Read, POV Third Person, Romantic Comedy, Romantic Fluff, Romantic Gestures, Rushed Story, Sappy, Surprises, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Valentine's Day Fluff, Valentine’s Day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-13
Updated: 2021-02-13
Packaged: 2021-03-18 14:00:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,156
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28744392
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FandomShipperAway/pseuds/FandomShipperAway
Summary: Thomas hates Valentine’s Day, and always has. Meaning he and James never did anything except mock a romcom, order takeout, and drink wine every year. No gifts, no special treatments. No nothing. Besides the holiday was a tactic to sell candy.Which he never let his money go towards.This year however, Thomas changes his mind and wants to do something different. Something a little outrageous. And no it has nothing to do with getting his boyfriend in bed.
Relationships: Thomas Jefferson/James Madison
Kudos: 8





	The only way to celebrate Valentine’s Day

**Author's Note:**

> So- any of y’all watch Simplynailogical? If so remember the Valentine’s Day video from 2019 when she made her boyfriend dinner. Yeah, this is vaguely based off that video

This year, Valentine’s Day was on a Sunday. Meaning, Thomas had to spend most of the day with James. Which he didn’t mind- He loved spending time with his boyfriend, but Thomas had plans for around the house and James did NOT know of these plans. 

Of course Thomas had to do his best with planning on what he could do to get James out for a little bit. Even if it wasn’t the most ideal way to. But he did the thinking, which took two days before he finally decided upon what he’d do.

Which what he decided upon wasn’t too difficult. He’d just make James go to the store the day of and grab some things. And rent a romcom while he did it. And Thomas prayed to himself that it would work. As the plan wasn’t entirely a good one. 

  
The next day was thankfully Valentine’s Day. Meaning that Thomas could finally make the dinner for James. Then the anxiety of him not being able to do it would finally vanish- and replace itself with a new form of anxiety the _Why did you even do this?_ Kind of anxiety. 

At least James would find it tolerable... right? 

Or he’d absolutely hate it, which Thomas wouldn’t blame him-

Wait, no, Thomas can’t think like that. Not today, he needs to be chipper if he wants this to go smoothly. Which was a 50/50 chance it actually would be that way. As life is unexpected and can give you good days, and horrible days. 

Which thankfully as of late, Thomas seemed to be having good days...

Anyways- 

The Virginian turns onto his back and stares up at the ceiling. He can see the bright beams of sunlight peaking through the cracks in the curtains. And quite possibly the blinds? Though Thomas would have to find out when he got out of bed. But that could wait. He didn’t need to be out of bed just yet. 

Turing his head to the left, Thomas glances at James. Who is wide awake and is scrolling through his phone. Which Thomas could only assume he was using Twitter. “Anything interesting?” He asks while doing his best to actually look at the screen. 

Glancing over at his boyfriend, James sends him a tired smile. “Morning Thomas.” He leans over and places a small yet brief peck onto his cheek. Which causes Thomas to smile brightly. 

“Mornin’” Thomas kinda mumbles out as he moves closer to James, doing his best to steal his heat as it was probably in the thirties outside. “But, really it looks interesting and I don’t have my glasses. So what’s going on.” 

James rolls his eyes a small bit and chuckles. “Not much, but the stuff that is trending is: Just politics, people tweeting about romance movies, famous celebrity couples. You know, the same old stupid shit.” 

“So, I’m not missing much then. Good to know.” The older Virginian says to himself before glancing up at James. “What time is it?” 

A raised brow comes from the younger Virginian. “You do know that you have a phone, correct?” 

“Yes I know that, _but_ -“ Thomas says putting emphasis on the word. “It’s cold and I don’t want to get out of bed.” 

“Thomas, you can literally just turn your body, reach your hand onto the nightstand and grab your phone.” James says calmly. Holding back an annoyed tone as he did so.   
  
“I could do that, or _you_ could tell me.” Thomas tells him, still keeping his gaze on his boyfriend while pouting his lips and softens his eyes. 

James glances down at Thomas and examines his expression before doing his best to hold back a laugh and smile. Turning his attention back towards his phone, James goes back to mindlessly scrolling through Twitter. However Thomas continues on with the constant asking of the time. Which soon gets James to break as he lets out a small tired laugh. Meaning he’s a bit annoyed by Thomas’ behavior, but wasnt too upset with him. “You’re such a child, I hope you know that.” 

“Yes James I know. You remind me constantly.” The older Virginian replies with a satisfactory smirk. Knowing that he’d gotten his way. Which why did James put up with his behavior again. “Now good sir, will you please tell me the time?” 

“Yeah yeah.” The younger male replies as he frees his right hand from his phone and waves his boyfriend off. Checking the time as he did so. “It’s 11:33.” 

An annoyed sigh escapes past Thomas’ lips. “I’m gonna go make some tea. Do you want any?” He slowly begins to sit up and stretches a bit before letting out a yawn. 

Which in turn causes, James to yawn in response. “No- no thank you babe. I made coffee already.”   
  
“When was this?” Thomas asks as he forcefully slips himself out of bed. Putting on his magenta slippers that sat next to the bed. Then slipped on his matching, fluffy, magenta robe that had his initails sewn onto it.

James glances up from his phone and begins to think. “Around four hours ago.”   
  
A nod in response is all James gets back as Thomas ties the robe closed then grabs his phone and makes his way out the room. First making a trip to the bathroom then to the kitchen once done. Another yawn escapes him when he reaches the hallway, he couldn’t have been that tired. He didn’t stay up too particularly late. Only until two o’clock as he needed to finish some work. And was binge watching some historical drama. Then he also had debated about the whole “Making dinner for James” idea.   
  
Okay, so maybe he was a bit tired. And maybe making some coffee would be better instead of making tea. 

The trip to the kitchen was uneventful. Though that was expected, as there wasn’t much to do on the way to the kitchen except walk with your thoughts, or hum a small tune. But Thomas didn’t mind, as he was used to this daily (albeit this was a bit later for him) routine. 

Once at the kitchen, Thomas makes his way to the counter, glancing at the coffee maker as he does so before getting it ready. Meaning all he had to do was put enough water for one cup into the water tank, turn it on and he’d be fine and dandy.   
  
Putting the coffee pot under the- pour thing? Dispenser? Oh whatever, he’s too tired to care at this moment. He turns the machine on and glances out to the living room area and makes sure that he can’t hear footsteps.

Thankfully, he doesn’t and begins to go over to the cabinets and searches through them. Finding nothing to make his boyfriend an actually nice, Valentine’s Day dinner... why didn’t he go shopping again? Oh, yeah that’s right. He’s not that good when it comes to really planning out his ideas. 

A frustrated huff escapes Thomas, but he continues to quietly look through the cabinets. His eyes soon falling upon a box- no- a good few boxes. 

Reaching into the cupboard, Thomas carefully takes out the box and lowers it to eye level and he gives an unamused expression. Mac n’ fucking cheese- he then glances up into the open cupboard and glances at the other boxes with squinted eyes and narrowed brows. 

More boxes of Mac n’ cheese... 

Not that Jefferson didn’t mind but- it had to be around like seven boxes at max. Which was weird since he loved the food, but for him to have this much in one cupboard- it really made him think long and hard.   
  


_Okay Thomas, think this through carefully- it’s either this, ham and cheese sandwiches, or leftover pizza from the other day._

He sits with his thoughts before hearing the coffee machine make a weird noise. As it was probably done filtering the coffee, and it was now in the pot. So, Thomas sets the box back into the cupboard, closes it and turns around and stares are the coffee maker- which is full of steaming hot water. 

Was the machine broken? 

Walking over, Thomas lifts the lid to where the coffee filter would go and glances inside before glaring at the empty chamber. 

He had forgotten to put in, a filter and coffee grounds. Meaning now all he had was hot water- 

“Fuck me.” Thomas says tiredly into the spacious area. Giving an annoyed groan before walking over to the cupboard and grabbing a mug. Which he then closes and walks back over to the machine, turning the coffee maker off. He even unplugs it.

Sounds of pattering footsteps make their way into the spacious kitchen and James looks over at Thomas. “Did I hear you say _fuck me_?” He raises a brow. 

“Yes James, I did. And not in the way you think.” Thomas mumbles before taking the pot of warm water and pours it into his mug. 

A confused James glances at the clear liquid in the pot and then back at his boyfriend. “Let me guess? You forgot to do something that involves your drink?” 

Blushing ever so slightly, Thomas shakes his head and puts the now empty pot under the coffee maker. “No, I didn’t forget, what I did was purposeful. You see, I wanted hot water.” 

“For your tea?” 

“No-“ Well he changed his mind a few minutes ago before even making the drink. So he wasn’t wrong, obviously. “I wanted hot water with lemon.” He holds his head up high like he’s done nothing wrong. 

James, who doesn’t by it shakes his head. “If you say so. Now, where do we keep the lemons?” 

The older Virginian tenses up before pursing his lips and furrowing his brows. Thinking long and hard for an answer. Finally coming to a conclusion shortly after. “The fridge?” 

The younger of the two shakes his head and and holds back a laugh before pinching the bridge of his nose. And Thomas can see each time his shoulders move as he continuously holds back a laugh. 

“James whats so funny? That’s where we keep the lemons right? If not we keep them in a basket?” _Why would they have a basket?_

Stopping himself, though he still has a small smile on his face. James glances at Thomas as he shakes his head once more. “We don’t ever buy lemons.” 

Thomas feels his cheeks heat up and he glares a small bit before looking down into his mug of hot water and takes a sip of it. “Okay, I’ll be honest. I forgot to put the filter and coffee grinds in.”

“I though you wanted tea?”

”Well- I did. But then I thought it over and realized that coffee is much better when it comes to caffeine. As it varies about 2% more caffeine when it interacts with hot water.” 

James nods a small bit and walks over to Thomas before giving him a small hug. “Hey, I hope you’re not mad.”

”Me? Mad?” 

“Well I was teasing you and sometimes that doesn’t go over well.”

”Oh...” Thomas whispers out before setting his water down on the counter. Then hugs his boyfriend. “Well I’m not mad. Just slightly irritated. But it’s all good. You meant no harm.” 

James nods and tightens the hug a small bit before breaking it. “Want me to grab you a tea bag or are you just going to drink hot water?”

“I’ll grab my own. But thanks for the offer babe.” Thomas tells him as he pecks a kiss onto his cheek. 

“Of course.” James replies with a smile.

The two then stand in the awkward silence and glance at each other with a slightly tired smile. 

Thankfully James breaks the silence. “Well, I’m going to back back to the room and look for something to watch. Now that you’re up and I can probably watch something.” 

“Okay okay. Go do that. But none of that lovey-dovey bullshit. Or fifty shades of horse shit. We’re gonna watch the romcoms later to make fun of them.” 

“Why did you even mention Fifty shades?” 

Thomas pauses and thinks for a second. “I honestly don’t know? I think it’s because people usually like watching that kinda stuff around this time of year. And it’s fucking stupid as shit.” 

James nods and makes his way out the kitchen. “Understandable. However, networks would never air it due to its- nature...” censoring himself, for no apparent reason. 

The older Virginian nods to himself as James leaves the room. He did have a point, the movie was just porn with a horrible plot. A very horrible plot...

Shaking his head, Thomas walks over to a cabinet and opens it before looking inside. Reaching his arm up so he can poke his hand into the already open box to grab a tea bag. Which he takes and closes back up before walking back over to his mug.

Making sure that he’s doing everything right so he doesn’t somehow miraculously fuck up his tea, Thomas unwinds the string and puts the tea bag into the water carefully and waits as the tea begins to steep itself into the water.

As he waits, Thomas debates on whether he should or shouldn’t put sugar into his tea. However he decides against this as he doesn’t want to go get the sugar and then make a mess in the kitchen. Which was funny since he’s probably make a mess later when he makes their dinner. 

After about five or so minutes, Thomas finally decides to take the tea bag out and throws it into the trash then makes his way back to his and James’ room. Which just like the journey to the kitchen, is nothing special. If anything it’s a bit more boring, as a trip to the kitchen meant he would either make coffee, tea, Mac and cheese, Sometimes Monticello muffins (as his mother called them) and the occasional small snack. 

Once back at the room, Thomas walks over to his side of the bed and carefully sets his mug down on the night stand. Then gets onto the bed and under the covers. Keeping his robe on as he does so. He also takes his phone off of the robe’s pockets (he doesn’t even remember putting the phone in his pocket) and sets in on the night the night stand as well. 

“So-“ Yhomas begins as he reaches over to grab his mug of tea, blowing on it a small bit. “What are we watching?” 

James, who’s attention is on the screen, glances over at Thomas. “One of the Deadpool movies I think? I was thinking about changing it though to see if anything else was on.” 

Thomas raises a small brow. “No- no, don’t change it. I wanna watch it.” 

“Why?” 

“One it’s not a Romcom. And two, Ryan Reynolds is in it.” The older Virginian tells the younger one as he sets his mug down on the dresser. Then he moves close to his boyfriend and puts him in an embrace. 

James glances over at his boyfriend and raises a brow. “May I help you?” 

“Not really. Just cold. And tired.” 

The younger one shakes his head a small bit and wraps an arm around his boyfriend. “Maybe we should leave the staying up late stuff to Hamilton.” 

“This was important. I had to stay up late.” He rebuts. 

James lets out a small chuckle. “I don t think binge watching “the crown” is important.” 

Thomas shrugs. “Well, maybe not to you, but for me it is. Now shush. Ryan Reynolds is talking.” 

All James gives in return is a eye roll and a small smile. 

The portion of the early noon was spent watching the Deadpool movie as the two talked about random stuff in between. And where they had seen certain actors before. However they did stop talking at one part all together at the end when Deadpool and Vanessa had their make out session.

Then, after that came the credits and Thomas checked the time. It was only around two o’clock. And he needed James gone soon so he could at least start getting everything ready. But it couldn’t be to early as he wasn’t that big a fan of eating to early in the evening. nor did he want it to be too late...

Why did Thomas make things difficult again?

Thankfully though, the second Deadpool movie begins to play and this gives Thomas enough time to think to himself about a time. Which he finally decides upon to ask James while nearing the end of the movie. This way they’d be able to still continue on with the movie. And it would be enough time to stall so it could still be a decent time to make then eat dinner. 

The plan was foolproof.  
  
And so, with the second movie almost nearly over Thomas grabs the remote and mutes the tv. Causing James to look at him with a raised brow.

”Everything okay?” 

Thomas nods with a hum before grabbing his phone. “Yes everything is. But we need to get groceries.”

”Like what? Lemons?” James asks as a small smirk forms.

”I mean we can put it on the list.” Thomas replies as he begins typing up a list.

Then the two began to talk about food for the week. Going over what they needed to get so they could make dinner after they got home from the office, which didn’t seem too difficult as Thomas preferred to have a more vegetarian diet. Meaning there wouldn’t be a big fight over meats to eat for dinner. 

After going over what they needed for what they would eat for dinner over the week, they talked more about produce and small snacking items for at work such as nature valley bars, a box of peanut butter crackers, and trail mix. 

Both go over the list a few times and make sure they have everything. With Thomas adding produce and deemed the list complete afterwards. Which James was alright with. 

“Alright, let’s get ready then go.” The younger Virginian announces. 

Thomas, not so keen on the idea, (as he has to stay here to make dinner) frowns. “I went last time to get groceries. Meaning it’s your turn.” 

Unamused, James gives him a look. “Not a valid reason.” 

“Definitely is.” 

“So, if I pick out say-“ James pauses and glances at the list and reads over the produce. “The wrong type of lettuce, you won’t complain?” 

Thomas shrugs. “I mean I will complain. But I’ll eat it.” 

It’s quiet for a moment. And the two just stare at each other before Thomas breaks the silence. 

“I’m also still a bit tired.” Which is the slight truth. As the tea did little to nothing for giving him energy. But he had also been in bed for most of the day, which wasn’t part of his usual routine. That and he woke up late. Meaning his routine was off. 

A few more seconds of James’ unamused glare slowly fades and he lets out a small sigh. “Fine.. but I don’t want to hear you complain about the produce I pick out for you.” 

Thomas rolls his eyes a small bit and a smile forms. “Fine I won’t complain.” _I’m definitely going to complain._

With that, James nods and goes to his dresser and grabs some warm clothes then to the bathroom and begins to get ready. 

While that happens, Thomas turns the sound back on and goes back to watching the movie. However after a minute or so, he begins to look through social media to see if anything trending had changed. And it hadn’t. Which wasn’t much of a shock, and nothing interested hm so he went back to watching the movie. Which was honestly getting a bit boring. But it was bearable at least. Unlike most recent movies. 

After another minute or so, out walked James. Who was wearing a pair of jeans, a white undershirt, and a gray over shirt with long sleeves. And a pair of black ankle socks. “Before I head to the front door. Slip on my shoes and coat. Are we getting take out for dinner?” 

It takes the taller male a minute to think of a reply that doesn’t give away his plans. And thankfully he manages to calmly tell his boyfriend: “Well, since we bought pizza the other day. And haven’t eaten the rest of that. I thought that would be better to finish off.” 

The shorter male nods a small bit. “Alright, sounds good to me.” He then quickly walks over to his significant other and plants a small kiss upon his forehead. “I’ll try to be back in less than an hour. Depends on traffic, and how stupid people are.” 

“It’s fine babe. Take your time.” _Really take your time._

James offers him a smile and Thomas returns the gesture. Then afterwards, James grabs his phone, wallet and heads out the room towards the front of the house. And Thomas can hear the male put on his sneakers. Grab his keys (and hopefully his coat) open the door, then close it. 

Grabbing the remote once more, Thomas mutes the movie and listens for the sound of James unlocking his car and pulling out the driveway. Which takes a few minutes at the man probably sat in the car as he waited for the heat to kick in. And Thomas didn’t blame him. He’d do the same thing.

But then he began to think: due to how cold it was, he just sent James out in the freezing cold. Meaning that he was going to get sick... God such a dick move on his part. 

Okay... maybe sometimes the plan needs to be thought through more then once... however _if_ James got sick. Thomas would surely do whatever he could to help him feel better!

With the thought of that now on his mind, Thomas is determined to make sure that this half-assed dinner is going to be as great as it’s going to get. 

Getting out of the bed, he rushes over to his own dresser and begins to look through clothes. Grabbing a magenta long sleeved shirt, jeans and clean underwear. And he quickly begins changing, shivering as he does so. 

Once finished, and deciding that the floor was too cold for his liking. He grabs a pair of striped yellow, red and white socks which don’t match the rest of his moderately plain outfit. But it’s fine, he wasn’t going out anywhere and didn’t really need to be flashy when it was just him and James. 

After putting the socks on, he heads over to the bathroom and puts his dirty clothes into the hamper before freshening up. Afterwards he leaves, grabs his mug from the dresser and makes his way to the kitchen. Which is now a bit darker than it was earlier. But that was to be expected as it was later in the day. 

Turning the switch to the overhead lights on, he walks over to the sink and cleans his mug out before putting it on the drying rack. Next he begins to look for everything he needs. 

Which, the items aren’t hard to find, he just needs a pot, strainer, wooden spoon, salt, the boxed macaroni, and the ball of cheese that Thomas had gotten five days ago when he went on a small shopping trip to get things for a salad. Yet never used the ball.

Upon finding the items, Thomas filled the pot with water and set it on the burner and turned it on to a medium-high temperature. He also sprinkled in some salt, why he did this? Well, he was never given a exact reason as to why... but everyone else did it. So it must’ve done something to the pasta when cooking. 

Thomas also debates about using green beans as a side to the pasta, yet decides against it as he doesn’t know how much time he’ll have. 

Next; Thomas opened the boxes and took out the packets of fake powdered cheese and placed them to the side for now (And yes Thomas opened all five boxes without thinking.), then afterwards he sets up the strainer over the sink and continues to wait for the water to boil. 

Which, took FOREVER to boil, he got tired of waiting and got on his phone. Glancing up every now and then to see what was going on. Which around the fourth time he looked up, the water was bubbling. So, Thomas poured in all five boxes, still not clearly thinking this part out. 

Then, getting his phone out, he set an alarm for seven minutes. However, the Virginian was only using the timer as a way to keep track of time of the pasta. Which actually wasn’t as long as Thomas thought it would be. Considering the last time he made Macaroni and cheese he was in Paris, sharing a room with Lafayette while highly intoxicated and just watched the pot intensely. And since university dorms had usually shitty appliances. The burner had taken forever to heat up. The rest- well since the fridge had been a small piece of shit. He borrowed a cup of milk from a neighboring dorm room and used that with two things of cheese powder. 

Lafayette had enjoyed it, meaning it couldn’t have been awful. However Thomas didn’t really remember the rest of the night as he drank a bit after making the food. So he couldn’t say much about his own cooking. 

Also a thing to note, is that after that night, Thomas didn’t really make his own macaroni dinner, he usually bought it when he really wanted some. Why he did this? Probably due to cut time? Who knows, it’s Thomas Jefferson...

Seven minutes of using the wooden spoon to occasionally stirring the water-macaroni filled pot, the alarm goes off and Thomas silences his phone and grabs a small handful of napkins and sets them down on the counter, picking up a few pastas with the spoon he sets it down on the napkins and dries the noodles before picking one up and pops it into his mouth. Taking a few seconds to determine if it’s texture-wise done. Which he deems it not to be. So he takes another minute or two to cook the idles before he finally deems them done.

Quickly, he gets to work on turning the burning off and grabbing two pot handles. Next he picks up the pot and it a bit taken aback by its weight. However he figures this is due to the water and shrugs it off before carefully pouring out the contents within the pot into the strainer and sets the metal pot back down onto the burner. Deciding upon the decision that the noodles could drain a small bit themselves while he shredded the mozzarella. 

This action takes a few minutes as he has to find the damn cheese grater. Which is in one of the drawers next to the drawer that holds their silverware.

Once he makes sure that it’s clean, he walks over to the cheese ball, with grater in hand and sets it down on the counter and begins to unwrap the cheese out of its plastic packaging and then gets to grating it. Which- he didn’t expect to be such a work out. And he thought deadlifts were a struggle, the cheese was a bit more difficult as it was still a bit cold and he for some reason was just doing horribly with grating it. Thankfully however, he doesn’t cut himself and continues on with the “workout” that seems to take hours. Even though it’s only six minutes before the ball is completely shredded.

Letting out a small laugh due to how stupid this all is, Thomas stops for a moment. God this was all so stupid...he should’ve just gone with the leftover pizza he had told James they were going to eat for dinner. 

Yet here he was, growing a bit nervous and regretful with his decision with every passing second. What if James, didn’t like it? What if he instead just ate the pizza and left Thomas alone for pulling such a stupid stunt..

However... no matter how stupid this idea of his is. Thomas must finish with dinner, can’t let the shredded cheese and pasta go to waste now can he? 

A sigh escapes his lips and he makes his way over to the sink and glances into the strainer. His eyes widening in shock when he sees how much pasta is inside it... which makes him look over at the counter and frown when he sees the five used boxes. Jesus Christ he should’ve just used one box... This stunt he pulled was ridiculous! How was he going to explain he used five boxes of Kraft dinner to James without sounding stupid? Trick question he’d explain, yet still act stupid...

_No, just ignore it Thomas, it’ll be fine. Just- continue on and act as if it was intentional... yeah! That’ll work!_

Looking back at the strainer, Thomas picks it up and slightly shakes it to make sure there was no more excess water. However there was due to how much damn pasta there was, so that took a minute... but aside from how heavy it was. It didn’t take that long before he finally poured the noodles back into the pot. Then put the strainer back into the sink. 

Next, came Thomas’ favorite part of all this. The thing he loved to do back in university- add the cheese- why it was his favorite part? Who knows? 

Grabbing the packets of powdered cheese, he opens them over the pasta as to not make a bigger mess. Which thankfully he doesn’t. And he gets all of the powdered cheese into the pot! So that was a huge plus. 

Walking over to the trash can, he throws away the emptied packets and makes his way back over to the pot and grabs the cheese grater and carefully takes it off of its bottom compartment that held the shredded mozzarella. And before he can pour in the cheese, he pauses for a second.

He nearly forgot the milk! 

Placing the container down, he makes his way over to the fridge and opens it and looks around for the milk, which is clearly in front of him, however he does find it after a few seconds of searching and takes the half-gallon over to the pot. 

Only he stops dead in his tracks when he hears the front door open.

_Shit..._

”Thomas!” He can hear from the door. “Can you come help me?” 

Thomas bites his bottom lip and glances at the milk and pot then at the open area of the kitchen which wasn’t that far away from the front door area. Which means James’ trip from the front door wasn’t a long one. 

Walking into the kitchen with a confused look on his face due to the light, James looked like he was about to call for Thomas to ask why the light was on. However, he can clearly see why when he sees Thomas standing in the middle of it, holding a half-gallon milk jug, a pot on the burner behind him, and the shredded cheese near it. 

“Uhm.. Thomas...” James starts out glancing at the items then back at his boyfriend. “What’s going on?” 

Thomas gives the slightly shorter male a nervous smile. “Promise you won’t be mad?” 

“Why would I be mad?” James asks raising a brow. 

The older Virginian bites his bottom lip and gives a small nervous, yet forced chuckle. “Well... I was planning on making you a surprise Valentine’s Day dinner... however I didn’t expect for you to be back so soon...” 

When the words get to James, he’s shocked and speechless. His boyfriend, _THE Thomas Jefferson_ , was making them both dinner? On Valentine’s Day too? This was- something... “I-I.” He does his best to think of something to say. Yet all he can muster out is. “I’m going to get the rest of the groceries then put them away.” He sets the bags onto the other counter and makes his way outside to get the rest of the groceries, which would take one or two more trips after this.

Now alone in the kitchen, Thomas bites his bottom lip. Well more at the skin on his lip. _I knew he wouldn’t like it... fuck me..._

He makes his way over to the pot and unscrews the cap and begins to pour in the milk. Not really measuring it, he knows not to put in too much, or too little. Then once done, he screws it up and puts in back in the fridge before heading back over to the pot to stir the milk, powdered cheese and pasta. Which is honestly a small arm work out due to how much damn macaroni he put into the pot. And he’s so focused on stirring these things together (and mixing in the shredded mozzarella) that he doesn’t really see James walk in and out then put the groceries away. 

Which is fine by Thomas, as this means he can make this ruined dinner- no wait, he turns around to face his boyfriend. “James, want me to make you something? Any sides? I kinda ran out of time...” 

Glancing over at his boyfriend, James shakes his head. “No thank you Thomas. I’m not that hungry. But thank you for the offer.” 

Thomas gives a nod and gets them both a small plate ready, along with forks and sets them at the dining table.

Which James walks over to, and it’s nothing too big. Just Macaroni, which is fine by him. And in actually, it’s cute.

The sounds of class clinking against each other is what gets James’ attention. As he looks over at the sound, he can see that it’s Thomas holding, two drinking glasses and- Champagne? It was odd, when did they ever have champagne? Thomas hated it and preferred regular wine. 

“Please James, sit down. I probably put you through hell making you go out in this weather.” Thomas says as he sets the glasses down. Setting the champagne slightly off center so he can look at James. 

And James, he’s still slightly taken aback by all this as he sits down, first the dinner, now the champagne... on Valentine’s Day nonetheless... they never did anything on this fake holiday.

Both, now sitting across from each other in a weird silence, Thomas grabs the champagne bottle and begins to take the foil of it before unscrewing the cap. Meaning it was probably from the grocery store and not the liquor store like where he normally got it. 

Thomas stays quiet as he pours an equal amount of champagne into both of their glasses. Quickly capping the bottle and setting it down so he can go and eat his food. Which he hopes to finish before James, as the male is just grabbing small bites. And he’s glancing over everything. _God, he must hate this... must be the worst Valentine’s Day he’s ever had..._

James and Thomas begin eating in their uncomfortable silence. Which James first takes a sip of his Champagne and is once again surprised. He should’ve known that it was the actual good stuff. Because this, tasted nothing like the ones in stores. 

Next he places the glass down and picks up his fork and takes a forkful of the Kraft dinner and takes a bite of it. And by god, it was actually really good for food Thomas made. And so he takes a few more slow bites before pausing. Glancing up at his boyfriend with a smile. “I don’t know how, I’m going to be able to top this gift.” 

Thomas pauses with his fork midway in the air, and he looks a bit taken aback. “I’m sorry, what?”

”This dinner, is amazing.”

The older one looks down. “I wouldn’t say that. It’s mediocre...” Oh god he’s doubting himself again. Hopefully James can’t realize. 

“Thomas, what’s with the gloomy mood all of a sudden?” James says, using his free hand to reach for Thomas’ 

“It’s nothing James.” Thomas says quietly as he eats the forkful of pasta. Lowering it so he can get another spoonful. Well like at it. 

It goes quiet again and James looks Thomas up and down to read his body language. Noticing Thomas pick at the food. His favorite food. “Something wrong with the food. Because I think it’s great. Hell, I don’t even know how I’m going to repay you back for it.” 

Thomas can feel tears pricking his eyes and he says nothing as James continues on with praises and compliments of the dinner. And it’s only a few more compliments before Thomas lets out a small laugh and sniffle. 

James stops and stands up before making his way over to the chair next to Thomas and pulls it close to him. “Babe, are you okay?” He reaches for his feee hand and squeezes it gently. “Is it something I said?” 

And this causes Thomas to shed a few tears. “Yes? No?” 

Concern stands on James’ face as he squeezes his hand again. “Thomas. What did I say?” 

“I don’t know... all this stuff... at first I thought you were mad at me. Then the compliments... and I know they’re genuine. But it’s just-“ Thomas begins to have trouble phrasing the last of his statement, which spews out of him like a broken dam. “When people make their significant other dinner, it’s not easy Mac and a bottle of champagne. It’s always some nice meal. And I feel like I fucked up your Valentine’s Day present by half-assing a meal. And I just wanted to do something nice for you because you put up with me year round and-and do nice shit for me all the time- and I’ve fucked it up.”

Tears are falling down Thomas’s face like his eyes are water falls. And James frowns softly before wiping away the tears with his thumb. “Thomas, babe. Don’t cry.” His voice deep, calm and soothing to the older Virginian. “You didn’t fuck it up.” 

A sniffle comes from Thomas and a shaky breath. “I didn’t?” 

The shorter Virginian shakes his head. “No Thomas you didn’t, this is a gift from your heart. You took the time to plan this out for me. Hell, I don’t even care that it’s a fancy dinner. As long as I get to spend time with you. It’s all good. And I don’t care that it’s not the traditional “Valentine’s day dinner” like everyone’s tried to shove down our throats.” 

Another sniffle comes from Thomas but he doesn’t say a word as a smile comes to his face. And he glances at his plate then at James. “That’s was so fucking sappy and cliche.” 

A laugh escapes James and he presses a kiss onto his rear stained cheek. “Good. Now, let’s finish up dinner so we can make fun of stupid romcoms and eat ice cream.” He stands up and puts the chair back before making his way over to the seat across from Thomas. 

“Wait, I thought you weren’t that hungry.” 

“Well- not really for an actual dinner. But you know I’d never pass down ice cream.” 

Thomas thinks for a second and nods. Okay that was fair, because he couldn’t deny that logic when he himself would’ve said and done the same things. “Alright.” A smile on his face stood there as he and James continued on to eat. Soon finishing both their plate and drink before putting away the champagnes and well... Thomas’s ungodly amount of Kraft dinner. 

“Thomas, how many boxes did you use? We have enough to feed the entire office. I think with seconds.” There’s no malice in James’ voice as he speaks and he’s got a smile on his face as he laughs. 

“Well... maybe... five boxes?” Thomas says as he gives his boyfriend an innocent smile. 

The only noise that fills the room is James’ laugh. “Well then. I guess we just found your breakfast, lunch and dinner for the next two weeks” 

A shrug comes from Thomas as he smiles brightly. “No different then my university days. Sounds good to me!” 

The two share a laugh and put the leftovers into a container. And then into the fridge. Then clean up the dishes and kitchen, which takes a while. But Thomas doesn’t mind. As he and James exchange stories. With James talking about how the store was packed and how he almost turned around and came back home. But decided that it would’ve been a disastrous idea to do as they wouldn’t have had any to each. Making Thomas let out a loath and reminds him of the ninety million pounds of Kraft dinner he made. Which gets a chuckle out of James 

After getting the kitchen clean, they both grabs bowls and James gets the ice cream and ice cream scooper out. Getting both a decent sized portion of the treat. However James leaves his be while Thomas adorns his with fruits. After wards they head up to the room, change into something more comfortable, get under the covers and change the channel to play some weird romcom. Which the entire time they make fun of its cliches and how blatantly bad it is. However, they still enjoy it in the end. 

And so, the romcom movie marathon continues on for a bit longer. With James leaving at one point to clean the bowls while Thomas stayed in bed because and as James quoted. “You stay in bed, you did so much for me today. And I barely did anything for you.” Which made Thomas’ blush and smile for the umpteenth time that day. 

James returns a few minutes later and laid down next to his boyfriend and wrapped an arm around him. Both sit in each other’s silence as the movie continues on. They have nothing bad to really say about this movie (since it’s the titanic, but they’d have their criticisms later). But, James breaks the silence in the room, to make one last comment. Not of the movie. But of dinner. “I still don’t know how I’m going to out do you with your gift.” 

“You don’t need too James. Because you’ve given me everything I’ve ever wanted out of life.” 

“Look who’s being sappy and cliche now.” James says as a smirk forms on his face.  
  
However, Thomas ignores this and shakes his head. “Oh hush and watch the movie.” He pecks a quick kiss onto his boyfriend’s cheeks and smiles to himself as he glances at the television. 

_Best Valentine’s Day ever._

**Author's Note:**

> Macaroni and Cheese idea Inspired by:
> 
> https://youtu.be/yuNatqfN210
> 
> (Also by the outtakes video, but not really?)  
> https://youtu.be/hv0lqzYqP2M
> 
> Also I hope you guys enjoyed this! Stay safe and have anwesome day!


End file.
